provided by the annenberg foundation, the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. once again, live in washington, moderator gwen ifill. gwen: good evening. the u.s. economy is a puzzling thing. today it added 157,000 jobs but the unemployment rate kicked up to 7.9%. also today the dow industrial average closed above 14,000 for the first time in five years, yet the government reported this week that the economy contracted in the fourth quarter of last year for the first time since 2009. so as congress agrees to delay a showdown over the debt ceiling and faces a march 1 deadline for across the board spending cuts, what to make of this darned economy, david? >> am i supposed to answer that? it is confusing. the stock market is up. employers are hiring, very slowly. the government now tells us that hey -- they hired a lot more last year than previously believed. auto seafls are up 14% from last year. housing sales are coming back. on the other hand the economy took a pause at the end of last year? unemployment is very high, 7.9